Yep, I'm still alive...I've been lazy and not served you all well. We've had a full plate for the last month and half...getting the boat ready for haulout and leaving the islands, flying back to the states, dentist and doctor appointments, visiting friends and relatives and, in all, driving over 1,500 miles to get to Rathdrum, ID to help out at one of the youth camps for the summer. I will try to be a bit more active with the blog...
The playtime last summer with Gregg and Cyndi continued this winter, with their return to the islands for their second sail with us (8 days). This allowed us to take them to places they were unable to see in 2012.
We took sooooo many pictures, the blog would need to be about 5 postings long to get a lot of narrative in with the pics, so I will spare you some of the writing and show a few of the hundreds of pics we all took. This blog will be about the land visits...the next will be the diving!
They arrived into the BVI (Sopers Hole) via the ferry from St. Thomas. We provisioned the boat and then motored to Cane Garden Bay for the night.
Cane Garden Bay Photos
The playtime last summer with Gregg and Cyndi continued this winter, with their return to the islands for their second sail with us (8 days). This allowed us to take them to places they were unable to see in 2012.
We took sooooo many pictures, the blog would need to be about 5 postings long to get a lot of narrative in with the pics, so I will spare you some of the writing and show a few of the hundreds of pics we all took. This blog will be about the land visits...the next will be the diving!
They arrived into the BVI (Sopers Hole) via the ferry from St. Thomas. We provisioned the boat and then motored to Cane Garden Bay for the night.
Cane Garden Bay Photos
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| Enjoying the wall art on one of the buildings |
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| Entrance to Callwood Rum Distillery. The favorite flavor we decided on...the popularly-called "Lose Your Panties Rum" |
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| Gregg and Cyndi are liking the atmosphere at Myett's... |
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| We are still there...in the afternoon... |
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Toddy and Sue heard about the get-together and joined us later... |
We actually looked up/down the beach at the other restaurants for the evening's dinner...either they were closed or "unappetizing"...so we returned to Myett's and had a "mah-ve-lous time, dah-ling."
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| ...and we are still there in the evening! |
The next day, we sailed to Jost Van Dyke Island for visits to some of the attractions in Great Harbor...Corsair's, the ice cream shop, the dive shop and, especially, Foxy's!
Jost Van Dyke Photos:
Jost Van Dyke Photos:
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| Actual proof of our visit. I was there...I'm holding camera |
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| Behind Foxy's, the "Endeavor II" sailboat is under construction... slowly...the delay to finish is due to $$ and time. It is fashioned after some of the early island work sailboats. Maybe it will be completed in a year or two. |
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| Photo on Foxy's wall, with Kenny Chesney and him "jammin'" |
Our next day's sail took us north of Tortola, south of Guana Island and then to Great Camino for the night. We rounded Monkey Point on Guana (with 3 other boats) and discovered the race was on for Lee Bay. There's usually no more than two other boats there. I have no idea where all the boats were coming from, but when we got closer we noticed the bay was full...7 boats! The decision was made to go north to the next bay (where no one ever goes) and try it out. Perfect place to anchor and dive, we found out!
An early start for Trellis in the morning was in order, as the bay would fill up quickly for the Full Moon Party. We found a great place...one of the last mooring balls...at 9am! It is always fun, but a little sad also, to watch the folks show up late for the party. Yes, there's about 100 mooring balls in the bay, but trust me on this: if you want a mooring...don't show up after 12pm and expect one available. The following day, we dove at "Diamond Reef"...just across from Trellis Bay.
Trellis Bay Photos:
Trellis Bay Photos:
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| The "Esperanza", an old sailboat that belonged to Michael "Beans" Gardner. He sailed this up and down the island chain...22' with 4 people. Its final resting place is near Aragorn's Studio. |
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| The "burning men" on fire at the Full Moon Party |
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| Cyndi and Gregg, whooping it up with the crowd... |
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| and then relaxing in one of the largest hammocks in the islands. |
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| The tanned, happy couple! |
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| Karen and Cyndi, with William Baldwin and some of the mocko jumbies! |
We had a really long, enjoyable sail to the North Sound of Virgin Gorda, anchoring for the night in the Leverick Bay area to see the Michael "Beans" show...and a visit to Flip Flop beach!
Virgin Gorda,
Leverick Bay Photos:
Virgin Gorda,
Leverick Bay Photos:
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| Gregg and Cyndi get their party faces ready for Michael "Beans" show! |
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| Cyndi and Gregg tried their best to win the conch-blowing contest...but despite the extensive high-quality training we provided, they were defeated. |
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| I've been told that girls are attracted to pirates... and here's more proof! |
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| First and foremost, Michael gets the kids involved in his show |
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| The winners of the pirate-naming contest. Winners are offered a swig of his rum swill-in-a-bottle, if you dare. |
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| Positive proof that you need to get there early or make a table reservation ahead of your arrival! |
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| New and old pirates! |
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| Gregg and I get to pose as mocko jumbies.... |
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| ...but we know that at the end of the evening, we get to go home with the prettiest girls! |
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| Whilst the girls of the group scrounged for errant flip flips at Flip Flop Beach, the guys harvested coconuts... |
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| ...and tossed some like tiny footballs. |
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| Cyndi and Karen set a new world record in recovered flip flops...and hats and other miscellaneous stuff in all levels of decay. |
We motored the boat from Leverick Bay to seek out a dive spot next to Necker Island (belonging to Sir Richard Branson.) The waves and wind were up, but seasoned divers like us aren't easily turned away. I thought we found a nice sandy spot to anchor in and couldn't believe how tight the anchor set on the bottom. By then the wind picked up even more, so we decided to leave...but the nicely set anchor wouldn't release. A lot of winching, maneuvering the boat and so forth finally brought anchor aboard...bent into a nice arc. Seems we were actually hooked into a crack in the limestone bottom...not sand. (Enter a real big sigh here)
We toyed with the idea of spending the night in Eustatia Sound, but it wasn't very protected from the weather...soooo...we headed back into the North Sound and towards the Bitter End Yacht Club, anchoring between it and Biras Creek Resort. Unfortunately, the other anchor I attached didn't set well, so we (Gregg and I) graciously accepted Karen's advice to "just grab a mooring so we don't have to worry about the weather." No sooner than we tied off onto the mooring when a powerful rain squall came through, lasting about 1/2 hour. Divine guidance through my wife!
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| Sir Richard's home, under construction after last year's fire. |
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| Who would've guessed this nice sandy islet had a hard limestone base. |
We toyed with the idea of spending the night in Eustatia Sound, but it wasn't very protected from the weather...soooo...we headed back into the North Sound and towards the Bitter End Yacht Club, anchoring between it and Biras Creek Resort. Unfortunately, the other anchor I attached didn't set well, so we (Gregg and I) graciously accepted Karen's advice to "just grab a mooring so we don't have to worry about the weather." No sooner than we tied off onto the mooring when a powerful rain squall came through, lasting about 1/2 hour. Divine guidance through my wife!
Bitter End Yacht Club Photos:
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| Sssssseeeee, there'ssssss sssssnakessssss in thesssse islandssssssss |
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| Up on the trail behind the resort |
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| Prickly pear flower |
Hope you enjoyed the pics...next, comes the diving!
